BHUBANESWAR: With the Union Cabinet giving its stamp of approval to the proposal of Ministry of Mines for further amendment of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act-1957, stage is set for auction of around 572 non-coal mineral blocks.
As many as 91 mining blocks of Odisha will be unlocked for auction once the MMDR Amendment Bill, 2021 is passed in the Parliament. The mines are caught in the legacy issue, where reconnaissance permits (RPs), prospecting licence (PL) or composite licence have been issued but mining leases have not been granted as they are saved under Section 10 A 2(b) and (c) of the MMDR Act.
These include major mineral deposits like iron ore, bauxite, manganese, chromite, lime stone and dolomite. They were protected and kept out of the auction regime as they were granted mineral concession either in shape of RP or PL or ML or received letter of intent (LoI) from the State government for grant of a mining lease before amendment of MMDR Act on January 12, 2015.
Though the government has assured that mining lease will be granted subject to fulfilment of conditions of the previous approval or issue of the LoI within a period of two years from the date of commencement of the said 2015 Act ending February 2017, neither the Centre nor the State provided statutory clearances for getting the lease.
"Obtaining environment clearance (EC) and forest clearance (FC) from the State and the Centre is crucial to get mining lease. In most of the cases, these two clearances are held up deliberately to bring these mines under auction regime," sources familiar with the development said.
According to the Ministry, applications were pending for environment clearance in 65 cases and forest clearance for 67 cases restricting the miners to get lease. Senior officers of Steel and Mines department are tight-lipped on the number of applications pending for processing to grant mining lease.
In the MMDR Amendment Bill, 2021, the Ministry has incorporated provisions in clause 2(b) of Section 10(A) of the Act, "Provided that for the cases covered under this clause, the right to obtain a prospecting licence followed by a mining lease shall lapse on the date of commencement of the amended MMDR Act."
However, the expenditure incurred towards reconnaissance and prospecting operations will be reimbursed, the Bill said. After clause 2(c), another clause (d) will be inserted which read, "In case where right to obtain licence or lease has lapsed under clause (b) and (c), such areas shall be put for auction as per the provision of the Act."